Thousands of free doses of an opioid overdose-reversal drug will be available to Iowans this Friday in a new statewide initiative, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports. During Free Narcan Access Day, approximately 2,000 two-pack Narcan kits will be freely available at more than 350 participating pharmacies across the state. Narcan…
Losing two powerful voices within a week – legendary designer and founder Kate Spade, and ally, storyteller and chef Anthony Bourdain – left our culture grappling, once again, with how we acknowledge and treat depression. This morning, Forbes contributor Chris Myers explored the unique emotional risks that entrepreneurs and startup…
AARP today announced a collaboration with technology company Orbita Inc. to study new digital approaches for remote patient monitoring and for reducing social isolation. The work will guide ongoing development of solutions providing intuitive in-home access to information and tools to improve self-care among adults. Research shows that health outcomes…
Entrepreneur Mark Darrah and his wife, Lyn, left Iowa 35 years ago because they were unable to use their degrees in advanced biomedical technology from Iowa State University within the state. In 2007, they returned from Southern California to Des Moines to launch Athena GTX to produce leading-edge medical monitoring…
How can a regional health care organization with operations in three states and some 32,000 employees become more innovative? Iowa-based UnityPoint Health — the 13th-largest nonprofit health system in the country — decided it would build a mechanism to empower its employees to think like entrepreneurs, by developing a center…
Elderly residents in 29 long-term care facilities in Iowa will be treated for mental illness by University of Iowa Health Care geriatric mental health specialists through telemedicine, through funding from a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Rather than traveling to Iowa City for their appointments, participating patients…
Medical staff in metro hospitals have a new smartphone app to rely on in the field. The Pulsara app could save minutes in response time for patients by streamlining information into one database checked by emergency medical crews in the field and nurses in the emergency room, KCCI reports. The…
A new venture capital firm co-led by former CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt will seek to invest in health care technology and service companies that deliver innovative care to urban, low-income populations, Modern Healthcare reported. The VC firm, Town Hall Ventures, will focus on building companies that provide higher-quality and lower-cost care…
Hy-Vee Inc. and its subsidiary Midwest Heritage now offers employee benefits to more than 58,000 eligible part-time employees, Hy-Vee announced in a statement this morning. Any part-time employee who is 19 or older is considered eligible for the program and can choose between 11 elective benefit options, including health, dental,…
A Des Moines-based direct-care agency has developed an in-house mobile documentation application that could also provide a less-expensive option for other care agencies. HOPE Agency, a nonprofit community-based provider of holistic care for children and adults with special needs, recently rolled out Quik Cliks, a documentation app that it built…